


All is fair in love and law

by writeringoodfaith



Series: Jily Fics! [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Lawyers AU, Marauder Era AU, Modern AU, Monthly updates, Romance/Humour, WIP, jily, jily au, not legal advice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:01:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21801835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeringoodfaith/pseuds/writeringoodfaith
Summary: Lily had always wanted to be a lawyer. And starting at Gryffindor Lawyers was like a dream come true. Except for one little fly in the pudding that went by the name of Mr. James Potter whose legal reasoning and commercial acumen literally blew her away. Insufferable pratt.
Relationships: Jily - Relationship
Series: Jily Fics! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1795366
Comments: 20
Kudos: 40





	1. Applications and airplanes

**Author's Note:**

> You ever get sick of writing for cover letters for jobs and decide to write fanfiction instead? Yeah? Yeah.

Dear Ms Minerva McGonagall

My name is Lily Evans and I am writing to apply to the position of trainee solicitor at Gryffindor Lawyers.

Last year, I obtained my LLB from Hogwarts University. With more than three years of experience in the private legal sector, I am no stranger to law firms, court deadlines, client service or hard work. My employment history has given me experience in court processes, settlements/mediations and tribunals. In my current role in personal injury litigation, I excel at effectively building cases through research, synthesizing evidence and written and oral advocacy.

My aspiration is to commence my legal career in a firm that champions the rights of the underdog and to find a firm whose values align with mine. Through my research and discussion with Gryffindor Lawyers at Hogwarts' University recent careers fair, I firmly believe that in Gryffindor Lawyers I will find not only a place that will challenge me and help me become the best lawyer I can be but a place aligned with my personal values.

Additionally, through my professional and volunteering experience, I have gained several skills that I believe I could contribute to the team at Gryffindor Lawyers, including:

\- A strong academic record evident by obtaining First Class Honours in my LLB;

\- Leadership capabilities evident by my term as President of the Law Society at Hogwarts University wherein I ran a fundraising campaign (raising more than $1,000 for sanitary product packs to give to homeless women in London), organised law society events (notably the Law Ball, Law Camp and the Mooting Competition), and oversaw the publication of the 2019 Young Lawyers Careers Guide; and

\- An ability to multi-task as I balanced two part-time jobs with university;

\- A sense of initiative and enthusiasm whereby I look for opportunities to make a difference. Every week for the past two years I have volunteered at Hogsmeade Legal Centre and assisted solicitors in providing free legal advice to those most in need.

I am confident that I have the skills necessary for a training contract position at Gryffindor Law and look forward to the opportunity of demonstrating this further should I be successful in securing an interview.

Kind regards

Lily Evans

* * *

Dear Minnie

My name is James Potter and I am writing to apply to the trainee position at Gryffindor Lawyers so we can proudly say we follow all the rules here at Gryffindor, take no shortcuts and do not condone nepotism.

I have just graduated with an LLB from Durmstrang Institute with honours. But my long love affair with law began a long time before law school. I was five years old when my father first told me to 'shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit' em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.' Yes, he read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' to me at a very young age. Could you expect anything else from Fleamont Potter? Since then, I too have wanted to be part of righting the wrongs, protecting the innocent, fighting the unjust. I want to give voice to those who would not otherwise be able to navigate the complexities of today's legal landscape. I want to be like my father, who was the best example of what a lawyer should be. I want to uphold what his firm stands for now that he's gone. 

I know you mentor the new trainees and I can't wait to be working with you more closely.

I'll hear from you soon.

Love

James

* * *

Lily should not have left her job application so late. At least, that's what she thought as yet another day passed after Alice had gotten an offer and she had gotten progressively more stressed, anxious, regretful and desperate.

'Thank you for your time today. We will give you a call if you are successful.' Lily had shaken hands enthusiastically with Minerva McGonagall, Senior Partner and Filius Flitwick from HR exactly one week ago today, smiled and was on her way out. She thought the interview had gone well but 'if' was such a traitorous little word. It was an allegation and an expression of doubt all in one. 'When' had much higher modality. Much more scope for hope. 'If' was like a soft cushion to break a fall, except the cushion was made out of needles, and you were falling headfirst.

She was startled out of a daymare involving face acupuncture by Severus who came up beside her as she was stacking the new release of a book in a fantasy series for her summer job.

By way of greeting he said, 'I got an offer for Slytherin Solicitors.'

'I didn't know you applied there.'

'Well, I did. I start next week.'

Lily was taken a bit aback. On paper, Slytherin Solicitors was a top firm. Profitable, well-regarded and where you went when you really needed to win. It was expensive, but its inaccessibility to the poor was something those who could afford to paid no heed to when they were in a spot of trouble. But to those within the legal industry who knew, Slytherin Solicitors was where important documents went mysteriously 'missing', your opposing counsel tricked you and your case was heard without you, in a men's club or during golf. Basically, it was full of snakes.

When Severus and her had started law school together at Hogwarts, they had both been full of ideals – ready to use law as a force for good in the world. But then, in second year, Snape transferred to Durmstrang. He then started hanging with a different crowd. One where plagiarism was encouraged if you didn't get caught. One that had an initiation ceremony that required a tattoo of two snakes and a skull that Severus showed her once. One that hung out in gentlemen's clubs and scoffed at her for her Primark clothes, her less than posh upbringing. And scoffed at Severus for hanging out with her.

He stopped talking to her in public for a while, but after he joined her at her second job at the bookstore he liked to approach her and talk to her at work like he hadn't just spent a year pretending he didn't know her anymore.

'Did you ever apply for Gryffindor like we used to talk about?'

'No.'

'I applied, Severus.'

'I know.'

'I haven't heard back from them yet.'

'I'm sorry to hear that, Lily.'

Lily sighed and her shoulders slumped a bit. She put the book she was holding back onto the cart. 'I thought the second-round interview went really well.'

Severus started, 'Maybe you should consider –' but was cut off by the sound of Lily's phone ringing. Her eyes widened in surprise and she looked behind her to see if Mr Slughorn was around. Upon ascertaining that the coast was clear, she answered the phone:

'This is Lily Evans, how may I help you?' and immediately cringed at her customer service voice.

'Hi Lily. This is Minerva from Gryffindor Lawyers. Have I caught you at a good time?'

Lily surreptitiously checked behind her and saw Severus continuing to stack the books. 'Yes, please, go on.'

'That's good. After careful deliberation, I am pleased to offer you a trainee lawyer contract at Gryffindor Lawyers-'

Lily's heart stopped.

'- Filius Flitwick from HR will send over the contract to your email address shortly. Congratulations Lily.'

'Thank you so much, Minerva!' She was hyperventilating. Low-key, but hyperventilating.

'As head of the trainee solicitors, I look forward to working with you. I hope you have a nice day.'

'I look forward to working with you too! Have a nice day!'

Lily terminated the call before the emotions threatening to burst completely overtook her. Severus took in the turmoil of happiness and hysteria fighting over Lily's features and smiled at her. Lily caved and rushed in to hug him, just like old times.

She broke contact to exclaim, 'Severus, I got it!'

'I know.'

'This is incredible I feel so amazing!'

'I know.'

'I can finally quit this job. This bookstore is going to lose both of us!'

'You can finally quit this job. You are going to be a fully-fledged lawyer really soon. I might be up against you in court.'

Her joy subsided a little as she realized that her childhood dream of working together at Gryffindor Lawyers had not quite been accomplished. Because he was going to Slytherin Solicitors. Slytherin. Because of Tom Riddle. And the ear Severus gave to the hateful things he said about women, migrants and Lily herself.

But she smiled, for old times' sake. 'You better get used to losing then. I always could whoop you in a moot.'

Severus smiled in reply. 'I'm not the same fresh-eyed law student anymore. You better lawyer up, Lily.'

* * *

James watched as the paper airplane he had so carefully constructed using the tried and true method from his childhood far out-sailed Sirius's for the second time in a row and hit Gilderoy Lockhart's January picture of himself in the calendar hanging inside his empty office.

'No, not fair! Rematch!'

Excellence could be a chore sometimes. James sighed and said, 'Sirius, best two out of three means that if I beat you two times, the third race is rendered unnecessary.'

'I was promised three races and three races I shall have.' Sirius walked over to where his airplane had fallen (well short of the aimed Gilderoy office) and gingerly picked it up.

The point of it was squashed - probably from Sirius hurtling it straight into the ground. What use is brawn with no brain?

Sirius continued, 'But first my baby needs some surgery to improve the aerodynamics.'

Laughing, James replied, 'your baby needs a full body transplant if it ever wants any hope of beating mine. When I was eleven I learnt the magic of flying paper airplanes and I cannot be beaten.' He strolled over into Gilderoy's office, picked up his plane and went back to Remus's chair - the agreed starting position.

Remus had his headphones in so James and Sirius knew their antics were safe to continue for the time being. Noise cancelling headphones were the greatest invention on earth. They enabled Remus to be lame and James and Sirius to have fun and all to remain friends as they worked together over the past year. Remus looked up at James as he neared him and rolled his eyes, turning back to the file he was working on. Remus was already a trainee solicitor and as such was supposed to keep an eye on the lowly law clerks. Peter's desk was further up, closer to Gilderoy's office. He was a law clerk too (unfortunately assigned to Gilderoy), but had only just started. He was pretty easy to get on board with his plans. As if demonstrating James's train of thought, Peter gave them a thumbs up and beamed with enthusiasm.

James and Sirius got into position. Wide stance. Dominant arm thrust forward holding their precious vehicles.

Sirius turned to James, grinned and said, 'Counting down! Three… two… one…'

The paper planes flew. They were in sync, hurtling through the office like synchronised divers and arcing across the room. Sirius's plane was the first casualty - it started to take on a distinctly concave shape and edged closer towards the floor until it landed near Peter's desk. Sirius cussed as it crashed. The second casualty involved an innocent bystander as Minerva McGonagall herself stepped into the clerk pool at the worst possible time - into the flight path of James's plane.

James's eyes widened as he saw realised the trajectory would inevitably lead to collision but the plane did not heed his yelling to STOPPPP. The people in the room did though and as one the whole room watched Minerva get hit by James's plane.

For something made out of paper, it had quite a lot of impact.

Minerva McGonagall, Senior Partner at Gryffindor Lawyers and head of trainee solicitors had a wardrobe similar to that of a nun. But she had a way of looking at them that made them want to squirm like naughty school children. She was a brilliant lawyer, fair, intelligent and ruthlessly thorough. A great mentor even if behind those rectangle glasses she always seemed to be judging them. James had this kind of relationship with her where he wanted to impress her but he also wanted her to love him and have his babies. Maybe it was just two sides of the same coin. It was with much mortification that he beheld her eyes narrowing at him. She picked up the offending airplane and put it in Peter's recycling tray.

The office went dead quiet as she cleared her throat and said, 'Mr Potter. If you could please follow me to my office.' She turned without looking behind her and he started to follow.

He passed Sirius (who was snickering), Remus (who had his earphones out and was looking alarmed) and Peter (who looked mournfully at him). James had always had a soft spot for Peter.

Feeling like a prisoner walking off the plank, he walked into Minerva's sleek corner office and knew he was in deep trouble when she asked him to shut the door behind her.

'James, you know I expect better from you.'

'I know.'

She arched a delicate eyebrow beneath her eyeglasses. 'No excuses? No pleas that playtime is a part of life? No ill-thought rationalisation that by distracting your colleagues you were helping them?'

'No, Minnie.'

'Minerva.' she corrected him.

'Minerva.' he echoed dutifully. 'I'm very sorry about hitting you with my plane. It was awfully immature of me to be playing with airplanes and I am very sorry that you were a casualty.'

She assessed him for a moment. 'Apology accepted.'

He bounced up and smiled at her. He'd been working on apologising better lately and owning up to his actions and was glad to see his efforts already bearing fruit. Then he noticed the little passport sized photos of people stuck on the wall behind her.

'Is that what I think it is?' his attention was caught by his name and picture which was on the same side of the wall as Sirius's, Peter's, and three girls he didn't know. One of them had red hair and seemed uncommonly photogenic. Or pretty. Or whatever. He leaned forward in his chair, trying to make out the tiny print of her name.

'Who is Lily Evans?'

Minerva spun around in her seat and caught James staring at her picture. She sighed and said, 'no point keeping this from you any longer. These,' she indicated to the pictures on the left side of the wall, 'are the new trainee solicitors for this year. As you can see, we offered you a position despite the abominable cover letter you had the audacity to send in. You'll get a call from HR later today.'

James looked a bit wounded at that. 'Abominable? I quoted To Kill A Mockingbird. It's a classic.' But then a thought seemed to strike him because his expression changed into a sly smile. He said, 'that means this Lily Evans person is starting here soon, right?'

'I won't have you accost her, James Potter.'

'Who said anything about accosting? We're going to be trainee solicitors together!'

'Gryffindor Lawyers has very strong views on sexual harassment. We aren't Slytherin. We don't condone it to our clients, to our staff or in society.'

'I'll be nice to her, I promise.'

'That's what worries me.'


	2. No flirting in the workplace

First day. Big day. Lily had gone to the gym, ran 5km, lifted a whole bunch of weights she wouldn't normally touch and gone for another round of cardio the night before so that when she went to sleep, she could fall asleep and be ready for her first day as a trainee solicitor at Gryffindor Lawyers. But in all of her preparations, there was one thing she forgot to account for - her general level of unfitness. Muscles she didn't even know she had were burning. Groaning, Lily sank into her new chair and surveyed the people around her.

Alice's seat was nearby. Across the walkway. Unfortunately not her desk buddy. The seat next to hers definitely looked claimed by someone - it had some football banner pinned up behind the computer (and when it came to Lily, pinning the banner as belonging to the sport of football was already a success), pens strewn across the desk, a file open and now that she noticed it, a backpack stowed underneath the table. How could someone who just started be so messy?

At the office tour, there had only been her, Alice and Marlene, even though she had been told during the recruitment process that there would be six new trainees. After the tour, she had received her first task from Minerva, to prepare the Statement of Claim for a case that was coming up to its limitation period. The plaintiff was the mother of someone who was tragically killed in a car accident. Her plaintiff was based in Nepal and only visited London for the funeral but because her daughter had suffered fatal injuries due to an accident on English soil, English law prevailed and she had rights. Helping people claim compensation for terrible things that happened to them due to the negligence of others wasn't what Lily had always wanted to do. But when she worked on her first personal injury file, back in second-year, and taken that claimant's statement and seen how much the accident had affected his life, well, that's when she first realised that compensation law could be a way to use law to make a difference to people. On the individual level through clients who turned to the legal system for reparation to the wrongs done to them and on a systematic level through law reform. It's one of the things she and Severus used to argue about. He always thought the clients were liars and/or crazy. He felt no compassion.

So even though personal injury litigation was Lily's bread and butter, she wanted to do her first case well. She was reading the medico-legal reports on file to familiarise herself with the case ("major depressive disorder… post-traumatic stress disorder...") when someone slid into the chair next to her and spoke. Lily looked up to see meet her new deskmate. He wore glasses and had black, messy hair. Tannish skin. And a dimple in the right corner of his crooked smile. He was cute. That wasn't a work-appropriate thought but there it was. He spoke.

"At long last we meet, Lily Evans."

* * *

Ah, she was perfection personified. That little 4x6 picture picture didn't even do her justice.

James introduced himself in a low voice, "My name is Potter, James Potter." He shot her his best blue steel.

The corners of her mouth tilted in a barely suppressed smile. "Alright 007. I'd introduce myself but I noticed you already knew who I was."

He looked at her sideways. "I don't know everything about you. I haven't looked you up or anything, I swear."

"That just makes it sound more suspicious."

"Nah - nah, I promise."

"Ok."

"Ok, so, if we're gonna be desk buddies we should get to know each other!' He spun his chair to face her. "Where did you go to school?"

"Hogwarts, you?"

"Durmstrang."

Lily's face lit up. "Do you know someone named Severus Snape?"

At that name, a couple of heads swivelled in their direction. But neither of them noticed because James's entire demeanour had changed. She watched as the sunny expression on his face was replaced by dark clouds. His eyes behind his glasses had narrowed to slits when he said - "I wish I didn't."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, he's a bit of a git for one isn't he?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly in response. She replied stiffly, "He was my friend."

James wondered how this sweet looking girl could ever have wound up friends with a guy like that. "Let me guess," he said aloud, "you fell for his 'poor boy against an entire universe conspiring against him,' yeah?"

Lily didn't respond.

"You need better friends, sweetheart. You're way too pretty for Snape."

She looked at him incredulously. "Sweetheart? You think throwing on a condescending endearment after your evaluation of my life choices upon knowing me for a whole minute makes it ok? Who do you think you are?"

James threw a panicked look out but his friends snapped their heads back to their computer screens in response. When all else failed, humour was his go-to defense mechanism. "A much better friend?" he ventured and then tried to make appear suave by adopting his most successful one-corner of his mouth tilted up smile. It was a secret weapon he used to charm both clients and ladies. He had practised it in the mirror.

But for the first time ever, the smile™ did not seem to work because she narrowed her eyes at him in response. Abruptly, she pushed her chair back from her desk and stood up. "You think you're so cool, don't you, Potter? I'd rather befriend the Loch Ness monster. You make me sick."

She left the room, James dazed by her sudden exit and admittedly a little hypnotised by the way her legs moved in her fitted black pants. He turned to his friends who were no longer ignoring him.

"I like her," declared Sirius.

Peter shook his head sympathetically at James. "Better luck next time, mate."

Remus raised his eyebrows, "As your immediate manager I'm just going to cautiously advise against flirting in the workplace. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if she reported you to HR. As your friend, I'm going to please request for all of our sakes that you get better at flirting."

James rolled his eyes, looking up at the ceiling, "Now everybody wants to give me advice and join the conversation. Thanks guys. I really appreciate it."

When Lily returned to her seat a few minutes later, she spent the rest of the day looking steadfastly at her screen, refusing to even bat an eyelash at his direction. When James texted Remus later about the Lily Evans incident, Remus said he had chatted to her in the photocopy room and she seemed friendly enough. James had pouted. Maybe Remus was right about the flirting technique. Just a little bit.

* * *

The next day, James Potter cornered her in the office kitchen.

'Hi Lily,' he said, smoother than he had the right to be as he pulled up in a chair across from her. 'Do you mind if I join you for a moment?'

Lily did mind. The dislike she felt for him as he draped his long limbs casually across the back of his chair and lounged back with a casual ease surprised her with the ferocity of its feelings. A part of her knew that part of that dislike was probably because she had lost her cool in the office on her first day of work because of him. But that was a very small, sensible part of her brain, growing smaller as he continued to sit there across her and interrupt her date with the rest of last night's sucuklu pide.

'Okay,' he continued, smiling sheepishly. 'I'm fully aware that silence does not constitute consent but I'm sensing a reduction in hostile energy coming from you and I really just wanted to come over here to apologise for yesterday.'

Oh. Lily looked up from her pide. 'Did Remus put you up to this?' James Potter's name had come up in conversation with Remus yesterday in the photocopying room.

'No!' he replied quickly.

A little too quickly.

'Okay…' she responded.

He admitted, shamefacedly. 'My mother did.'

His admission brought out an unsolicited laugh from Lily. Euphemia Potter, previous managing partner of Gryffindor Lawyers - now retired, of course, was renowned for her legendary wit and sharpness within legal circles. She hadn't been on Doyle's List of Leading Lawyers for decades for nothing.

'Not that I wasn't going to do it eventually. I just - ugh -' he grimaced. 'I'm really bad at first impressions.'

She nodded.

A laugh barked out of him, 'You don't have to agree with me!' he exclaimed.

She felt the corners of her mouth lifting in response. 'I've sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.'

'In a court of law!' he gestured at the white table they were sitting at and the pot plants hanging behind him of the kitchen area.

'We're always on trial,' replied Lily. 'And well,' she took a deep breath, 'while we're on the subject of apologies, I would like to offer one to you too.'

James sat up in his chair and shook his head, 'Nah, no need.'

'Please,' said Lily. 'I'm sorry for losing my temper at you. Severus is a touchy subject. It doesn't excuse my behaviour, but there it is.'

She could almost see a follow up question whirling through his brain behind those eyeglasses. So she shook her head slightly, and just like that he stopped. She stuck out her hand across the table, 'Alright then, Potter. We are desk neighbours after all. Let's start again. Hi, I'm Lily Evans.'

A slow grin stretched onto his face then shrank again, until only one corner of his mouth was caught up in the smile. 'The name's Potter. James Potter.' He stuck his own hand out. With a firm grip, they shook on it. She absolutely did not enjoy holding this ridiculous Bond wannabe's hand. Absolutely did not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to aim for monthly updates! I actually already have the next chapter done, but like any good lawyer would, I like to be prepared... and I'm working full-time and working on getting qualified in a new jurisdiction later this year. Sadly, it isn't England so all legal references are fictional and do not constitute legal advice. 
> 
> Next chapter spoiler alert: contains fake!law and a whole lot of Lockhart


	3. It's all in the blush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you sign up for a lecture on torts law? Maybe the effects of legislative reform on personal injury law? You didn't? Oops. Set in the fictional jurisdiction of Marauder, UK (2020)

Lily had been working as a trainee for four months now. She had thought that adjusting to full-time work would be hard, so she was surprised by how readily she fell into it. The hardest part of her job was also the best part of her job: her clients. The first time she signed up a client on a legal costs agreement she was terrified, and the dear old thing, a Pomona Sprout who had been involved in a gardening equipment accident at work somehow sensed her nervousness and put her at ease. With her kindness, Lily was able to snap into professional mode, the next steps for Ms Sprout's claim rolling off of her tongue smoothly afterwards. Ms Sprout had thanked her for explaining it in a way that she was able to understand it, signed the legal costs agreement and Alice had pat her on the back on her way back to her cubicle. Sometimes she loved being a lawyer.

But they were forty-five minutes into a training session that was fifteen minutes into lunch. Sometimes she did not love being a lawyer.

The training session was about the new motor vehicle accident reform of 2020. It had come out literally on 31 January 2020, so it was not yet a week old. And yet, Gilderoy Lockhart, Associate and lawyer extraordinaire (in only his own opinion) was full of stories about how he was succeeding under the new reform and picking up clients, left, right and centre.

Lily spied Minerva rubbing at her temples a few minutes ago, but beside her Marlene and Alice lapped it up. Marlene especially had a soft spot for Gilderoy, ever since he asked for her help as a millenial to fix his crashing microsoft outlook and called her a sweet girl. Lily admitted, his blonde hair, blue eyes and dashing smile probably didn't hurt his client retention rate, but behind that wide grin lay one of the thickest heads Lily had the misfortune to meet.

For starters, when the training session started, Gilderoy took the room full of lawyers and support staff right back to LAW101 with a literal ginger beer bottle. As he sauntered his way to the front he gestured to the room with the opaque bottle in his hand, 'The crux of these new motor vehicle accident reforms,' he began, 'can be likened to the foundation of tort law itself. Now this bottle which I assure you is full of ginger beer and possibly something else is a clue. Who can guess what case I'm referring to?'

Lily could've sworn the silence sounded like chirping crickets. She heard Sirius exhale loudly into the quiet room. She put up her hand to end the awkward silence, 'Donoghue and Stevenson?'

'Correct, Lily! Well done!' he beamed at her.

She overheard James fidget and whisper to Sirius, 'What's the new reform got to do with first year law?' Sirius shrugged in response and then grinned, saying a little too loudly 'Probably the only case that he knew.'

Gilderoy cleared his throat and went on to click through his powerpoint, explaining the new act of legislation. At the end of his presentation, which was mostly anecdote, he opened the floor to questions.

Lily really didn't want to impose on everybody's lunch any longer, but there was a part of his explanation that confused her. So she quickly raised her hand to ask, 'Hey Gilderoy, from your interpretation of the act, do you mean to say that unless someone is catastrophically injured, it isn't worth our time representing them?'

'Uhh,' Gilderoy stalled, thinking about her question. He brightened up and declared, 'All clients are injured _catastrophically_ if they've got the right lawyer,' then he had the audacity to wink at the room, 'who knows the right doctors who will give us the right diagnosis.'

As a whole the room rolled their eyes at his response.

'But,' continued Lily, 'If we get our clients cases say $60,000 worth of damages, taking them outside of the statutory limits, then won't we be taking too much by charging them under the catastrophic legal fee agreement? Medico-legal reports cost $3,000. Liability reports cost $6,000. Our lowest fee agreement goes for $16,000. And though I understand that's currently a really competitive rate! Our clients would be better off with claims worth less than $50k because the costs associated with our current fee agreement doesn't allow it.'

There was a hush in the room after Lily spoke and she shifted in her seat self-consciously, worrying that maybe she hadn't gotten the figures exactly right or had misunderstood something somehow, even though she had looked up the legislation in preparation for Gilderoy's presentation just before.

McGonnogal then cleared her throat, calling out, 'Lily, are you proposing a completely new set of legal fee agreements for the new scheme of laws?'

Lily balked at the direct question from McGonnogal but then decided to be brave and continue, 'Yes, I suppose I am. For non-catastrophic claims under this new statute.'

She was surprised when another voice spoke up. James Potter raised his hand to draw attention to himself and said, 'I know what you mean Lily. We need a different charging scheme for those cases worth less than $50k because we can't carry on with our spending habits and not be compensated and only hope that we convince the trier of fact that the case is worth more than $50k. They'll get tired of us - and quack doctors -' he turned to look at Lockhart pointedly, 'really quick.'

Kinglsley Shacklebolt, another partner of Gryffindor Lawyers, looked contemplative as he stated, 'I believe they're right Minerva. There's something in this.'

Minerva seemed to reflect on the thought and turned her attention back to Gilderoy who snapped up from the doodles he was creating on his notepad, smiling widely at Minerva when he noticed she was looking at him. 'Gilderoy, look into this please. Send me a draft for the new legal costs agreement by Friday morning.' She then turned to the rest of the room. 'Excellent contributions everyone, I'm sorry it had to run late. Off you go, now.'

* * *

When Lily returned to her desk after grabbing a quick sandwich outside, James Potter was already at his station, a funny expression on his face.

'Did you see the email yet?' he asked.

Lily shook her head. 'What email?'

'Just look.'

* * *

To: Lily Evans; James Potter

From: Gilderoy Lockhart

Hi Lily and James

Splendid job on your contributions to the training on the new legislation just now! I hope you found my presentation useful. I know that when I was a young lawyer, I wished someone wise who knew the ropes would reach out to me. So this is me, reaching out to you with a little task sure to shore up your legal knowledge.

Will you write up the new legal costs agreements as we discussed in the meeting and present them to me by COB Thursday?

You both are great trainee lawyers and I look forward to seeing many great things from you!

Thanks

Gilderoy Lockhart  
 _Associate  
_ GRYFFINDOR LAWYERS _  
Winner of Lawyers Weekly Best Smile 2015 - 2020_

* * *

James scowled when she finished reading the email and looked up at him. 'This is so typical Lockhart. Did you see how its due Thursday night? He isn't even going to look at it before he flicks it onto Minerva and Kingsley.'

'Oh,' said Lily. 'So this is how it is.'

'Yeah,' replied James. 'Welcome to the bottom of the food chain!' He raised his hands in a fake cheer and she laughed in response.

'Well, I don't mind doing the work,' she added. 'We do need new fee agreements. And they aren't going to write themselves. There's no such thing as a self-writing pen.'

'You have a very admirable work ethic, Lily,' commended James. 'And if there was such a thing as a self-writing pen, I'm sure Sirius would already have one.'

They spared a glance over to their gray-eyed colleague, who was on his third mug of coffee for the day and yawning as he flicked through the latest issue of The Law Society's February magazine.

'Thank you, by the way.' Lily added, almost as an afterthought. 'For backing me up in there. It's probably my fault you got roped into the task too.'

James seemed to straighten up in his chair at the compliment. 'Oh, it was no problem at all. Lockhart is full of hot air anyway. The statutes have been out for not even a week. None of the industry know what they're doing and he certainly doesn't have any new clients under the reformed legislation.'

Lily smiled in response. 'Sure. So, when do you want to work on this?'

* * *

Was James dreaming? Was Lily Evans, angel in disguise, smiling at him? And all he had to do was voice his opinion backing up her totally solid idea as opposed to Lockhart's dumb and ethically dubious one? He'd do it again in a heartbeat. He grinned. Time to turn the Potter charm on. There was an opportunity waiting for him.

He opened his calendar on outlook. 'How about 4PM tomorrow?' he suggested.

She turned to her computer and agreed.

'It's a date!' he declared excitingly.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

He sobered. 'A date for the meeting. To work. As colleagues…'

'Yeah,' she agreed, smiling at him briefly before making a 'back to work gesture' that he was intimately acquainted with. It involved turning back to her computer and putting in earphones and he knew that that meant that she was going to concentrate and didn't want to be disturbed. He turned his megawatt grin over to Remus, peeking over the barrier above to share his happiness with his even-tempered friend. But Remus had his headphones in already too - those noise-cancelling ones the boys had gotten him the year before. He turned, looking for moral support elsewhere. Sirius would give him crap, he knew. Maybe Peter?

Pushing off of his desk, he rolled his office chair over to Peter's desk.

'Hi Peter!' he greeted him brightly. Then he bent over and spoke quietly, 'Some exciting developments happening with Evans and me.'

Peter looked up from a file he was looking at. 'Yes, James, please distract me from,' he scrunched his nose as he referred back to his notes, 'cellulitis. These pictures are gnarly man, look!'

Peter's client's leg was red, swollen and bleeding. Parts of it were black and had puss oozing out. Not the worst James had seen, but definitely not the nicest. Working in personal injury meant that he encountered all sorts of gnarly medical issues. He spared the poor client a thought as he looked over their hospital photographs. 'That's awful, man. You should clip those together and add a post-it note graphic warning. And anyway. Yes! Lily and I are going to write the new legal costs agreement drafts together!'

'And this makes you happy, why?'

'Because of the 'Lily and I' part!' James repeated quietly, and then grinned.

'Well, don't blow it,' was Peter's advice.

James nodded solemnly. 'Not for the world!'

* * *

The Japanese place around the corner was pretty familiar with James's face after work. But this time, he wrote the number 2 under the amount of guests required, winking at the server when she asked him why he wasn't going to keep her company at the bar table.

All had gone according to plan. Their 4PM meeting had been successful and her face when he revealed that he had already drafted two different legal costs agreements was worth staying back the day before.

However, the issue was, she had also already drafted two different legal costs agreements and they spent the next three hours cross-referencing each others work to create a cohesive draft to present to Gilderoy a full day early.

When 7PM hit, his stomach had grumbled loudly and before he could curse his bodily fluids for embarrassing him, Lily had laughed kindly and suggested that they grab something to eat after a hard day's work. He honestly couldn't have put it better himself. It was his secret wish for the afternoon meeting to stretch into a dinner date so he tried to act suave when she suggested it herself. He only wished it could have happened without his stomach's vocal performance.

As they were shown to their table, Lily tucked a strand of her red hair that had escaped from her ponytail behind her ear as she perused the menu. She selected udon noodles - to warm her up - she said and without even looking at the menu James ordered his usual: karaage donburi.

As the waitstaff whisked away their menus with their orders, James couldn't help a smile grace his lips as he looked at the pretty girl across from him. It wasn't just that he found her pretty, no. Though that was undeniable. Everything he found out about her only left him wanting to know more.

'So, Lily Evans,' he reveled in how her full name felt rolling off his tongue. 'Have you always wanted to be a lawyer?'

'Yes, you?'

James just laughed. 'With two parents in law and one of them founding a law firm I would be hard pressed to escape it. I don't know if you know, but my father passed away about eighteen months ago now. And my mother had a stroke last year. She's ok!' he hastily added as he watched her concerned expression. 'It was a mild one. She's resumed the use of all of her faculties. And she's since totally retired. But they've left quite the legal legacy for me to uphold.'

'But don't you want to? You don't like law?' she leaned forward, resting her cheek in her hand to gaze at him quizzically.

'I do like law,' he admitted. 'It's just, the burden can be… a bit heavy sometimes. It's stressful knowing that the judge knows who you are - knew your parents, expects great things from you. And you've got no idea what you're doing. And no idea who _they_ are.'

'You're good at your job, James. I've seen you with clients. Remus has actually flicked me some of your past work to use as precedents when I've asked him questions.'

'Has he now?' his face broke out into a smile.

'Yes,' she admitted, ducking her head in embarrassment slightly.

'You know you can come directly to me. We're literally next to each other.'

'I…. could,' she conceded. 'Now that I know that your work is reliable.' She added quickly, 'I just didn't want to add to the James Potter ego crisis.'

'My ego's not in crisis?'

'No, no,' explained Lily. 'The crisis is for us. The rest of the office. Dealing with your ego.'

He shot her a look with narrowed eyes and she laughed out loud.

'Alice coined it,' she admitted. 'After that time you came back from your first directions hearing, your hair an absolute mess and your suit dripping wet from running to court in the rain and almost missing it in the first place. McGonnogal was concerned about whether you really had your first appearance in court with that disheveled appearance and you told her,' Lily paused to control her growing laughter, 'Rain never made anybody look so good.'

He grimaced. 'Did I really say that?'

'Would I lie to you, James Potter?' she replied.

'Ugh,' an inarticulate noise escaped him and he buried his head in his arms. His glasses squished against his face so he soon tilted his head to look up at her dolefully. 'Enough about me.'

'Well, ain't that a first.'

'Hush you! I want to get to know you better, Lily.'

She smiled indulgently at him. 'Okay. Good thing you're sitting down. I shall tell you the long and dramatic tale of how I came to choose law.'

James nodded with approval, picked his head back up from its resting place in his arms. Lily's tale was interrupted by the arrival of their food.

In between mouthfuls as Lily ate, James learnt that Lily's mother was a housewife and her older sister had just dropped university to do the same. He learnt that Lily's new brother-in-law was an unpleasant fellow named Vernon who had a mustache reminiscent of a walrus. He learnt that her parents encouraged her ambition and desire to do law, but neither quite understood it, or the sacrifices she'd had to make along the way to get where she was. She'd had to move out of home to be closer to university. She'd had to work two jobs (one at a law firm and one at a bookstore where she could pick up extra shifts over break) to support herself financially. She studied relentlessly to achieve the marks required to be offered her dream job at Gryffindor Lawyers.

'But why?' James asked. 'Why go through all that? And why Gryffindor?'

'My childhood friend's mother was in a car accident when we were around ten or eleven. And I didn't know much, but my friend told me how the car accident destroyed her life. She injured her head or something so she had these terrible occipital headaches. Before the accident she was really kind to me and my friend both. But afterwards… she was snippy. She couldn't come out during the day very much because the light would aggravate her migraines. She'd cry all the time and bemoan the fact that they couldn't afford surgery or couldn't afford massages. She'd rage against the system incessantly and bring that rage home. And Sev told me how she used to argue with his father, and had become super critical of him too until one day she packed her bags and left them both completely.'

'I mean, can you really blame that all on an accident?'

'That's the thing - she did. Severus did…' Lily trailed off. 'And who am I to deny someone's reality? I wanted to work in this space and help people receive speedy treatment as they needed. Justice delayed is justice denied so they say. Especially when people are ill. And when I did my first personal injury case, back in second year at my first law job, I knew that it was it for me.'

'Wait…' James cottoned on to something she said. 'Severus? Severus Snape? Durmstrang Snape?'

'Yes,' sighed Lily. 'Durmstrang Snape. Tom Riddle Snape. Death Eater Snape.' Her eyes were cast downwards. 'Before all that - to me, he was Severus.'

James opened his mouth - he wasn't sure what was going to come out of it. Probably incredulity. Snape was honestly one of his least favourite people. It wasn't just his manner or attitude - his tendency to cut people down and tread on their feelings - though that by itself had caused a few detractors within the halls of Durmstrangs. It was because of that incident against Remus the other year. It was Remus's first trial as a lawyer, and on the other end of the case Snape was the paralegal some insurance lawyer had passed along the file to do all the grunt work. Snape told Remus that due to an administrative error, their client's only copy of the CCTV of the work accident had been deleted. Remus was so stressed out at the time, he was losing sleep and growing grey hairs and to have the opposing side act so underhanded... It was incredulous. Against the ethical code all lawyers are sworn by, and all lawyer incumbents attest to upon admittance to the court. And it confirmed something that James had always thought. Severus was a snake. He all but confirmed his actions out loud to a colleague in a whisper not quite quiet enough during the hearing that James had overheard. If there was some "bullying" after the fact at Durmstrang then he was really only righting the scales of justice. Sirius agreed. But they'd fallen out of contact with Snivellus ever since graduation. Which had been good riddance… Until now.

James got so lost in thought, he didn't realise Lily had put a hand on his forearm and was speaking again. 'I don't know what went on between you two. I know you don't like him. But a long time ago, he was my best friend. I hope you can respect that.'

James looked up at her, and tried to convey to her his earnestness. 'I do respect that. I respect you.' He put his hand on top of hers.

A slight blush graced her cheeks and she quickly withdrew her hand. And he felt his own cheeks warm in response at her reaction to their physical contact. She cleared her throat and he took the opportunity to refill his glass of water, and then hers. Gratefully, she took a sip.

'This was kind of nice, James,' she said, gesturing to the restaurant. And maybe to something more? He decided to go with the safer option.

'I've been frequenting this place for years. It's my go-to for Japanese food,' he grinned. 'And my go-to for eating out with colleagues!'

'You go out to eat with colleagues often?'

'Only my favourite ones.' He winked.

Behind the glass of water being raised to her lips, he caught a glimmer of her smile. This wasn't quite a date. He really did take colleagues to eat here for lunch every now and again - from Minerva herself to Peter. But he noted a dusty shade of red on Lily's cheeks and was grateful for whatever deity had blessed her with such a transparent complexion. Because maybe that blush meant that this was more than two colleagues sharing a meal together after a long day at work. Maybe it meant that it could become more. He grinned at her and downed his own glass of water in one gulp. Whatever this was - he'd take it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, romantic tension builds between James and Lily as they're forced to work together on the same case...


	4. To Date or Not to Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter: Thanks to Lockhart and his talent of delegation, baby lawyers James and Lily worked together, which turned into dinner together, which did or did not definitely turn into a date. It depends on who you ask. 
> 
> Credit to lirians who provides me the loveliest feedback and support <3 (and who also writes excellent Jily that I recommend you check out immediately!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JK PLOT REWRITE. Romantic tension may build here (like incrementally) (baby steps guys) but the further working together referred to in the last chapter’s author’s note will happen later…

“So, what’s up between you and Potter?”

Lily almost choked on her vitamin water. Spluttering, she turned to Alice, disbelief clear on her face. “What?” 

Alice had thrown on a leather jacket on top of her corporate suit today for their lunch outing, and it kind of suited her short spiky hair. She continued, “Oh, don’t be coy with me, Lily. I’ve known you for far too long for that.” Leaning closer over the tabletop of the loud food court, her eyes glinted in barely suppressed glee. “I heard about your date the other day. You know how the office talks.” 

“Date?” Lily asked. “I haven’t been on a date with James Potter.”

“That’s not what Pettigrew said,” Alice announced in sing-song. 

“Why would Pettigrew know something about my love life that I don’t?” 

“We all know Pettigrew can’t keep a secret,” Alice countered. “The real question you should be asking, Lily dear, is why would he be spreading that you have been on a date with James Potter if you think you haven’t?”

Her nose scrunched in confusion. “Is this about dinner the other day at the Japanese place? It wasn’t a date! Pettigrew was wrong! I told Potter ONE bit of my life story with Severus over dinner after work. That doesn’t make it a date.”

“Oooooo.”

Too late, Lily realised she had only fuelled Alice’s case.

“Pettigrew didn’t mention that.” And then Alice started counting on her fingers, by letters as was the lawyer way. “If this is the same dinner where you (a) had a deep and meaningful discussion about how you got into law, (b) complimented his work-”

Lily interjected that she was only being collegiate and friendly. But Alice continued undeterred. 

“And (c)! Where you felt up his fine forearms! Then that my learned friend, was a date.”

“PETTIGREW SAID THAT?!” 

A pigeon that had flown into the food court and was pecking at their neighboring table got startled and flew away. 

“He very much implied it.” Alice smirked. 

“It was a work function?” Well, that sounded a bit inadequate in light of Alice’s bullet points of evidence even to Lily’s own ears, especially the third point about the forearms. Why oh why did she confess to Alice about her thing for men rolling up their sleeves at work in their corporate jobs? Was it _her_ fault that the sliver of forearms was the only acceptable amount of skin for men to display in the workplace? Such little skin, yet such strong implications for the musculature that lay underneath those buttoned business shirts. So what if said epiphany was inspired by the fact that James had in fact rolled up his sleeves that day. “I’m pretty sure the forearm feeling was accepted platonically. _I_ thought it was platonic,” she emphasised. “And you can’t be on a date without knowledge or consent so this whole argument is moot.”

Naturally, her friend ignored Lily’s strongest point to seize upon her weakest one. “How do you platonically feel up someone’s fine forearms?” Alice postulated. “Oh Lily,” she gasped dramatically and stretched out a hand across the food court table to place on top of Lily’s arms. “This is perfectly platonic, please let me feel the muscles rippling under those rolled-up shirt sleeves.” 

The theatrics reminded Lily of when Alice did law revue. This girl was a force unto herself. She was pretty sure Alice did the nudie run during the final show but had never wanted to confirm it. There was a difference between thinking she had seen her best friend’s bits trot gaily across the stage and knowing it happened and Lily happily lived in the land of that ambiguity. So she rolled her eyes at her friend’s dramatic display. “You know it wasn’t like that.” 

With a grin Alice retracted her arms to fold them neatly in front of her. “Pray do tell, what was it like?”

Lily reached over and placed a hand gingerly on top of Alice’s arms. “Thanks for listening to me James, you’re a real pal.” 

“You did not use the word pal.”

“I might have used the word pal!”

Alice delicately raised her eyebrows.

“I could have. It’s acceptable. I could have also used the word mate, friend, or colleague. Because we are _only_ friends, mates, and/or colleagues _._ ” 

“Just call him your Learned Friend while you’re at it.” 

Lily snickered at the throwback to courtroom etiquette. “Well,” she conceded, “We are both lawyers. So that would be a fitting title.”

But Alice wasn’t having any of it. “I know you think he’s cute. You forget I know your tells. Besides, that foundation of yours - which, OMG is that the new Innisfree one?”

Lily nodded, pleased at the change of topic. “Yeah, Korean skin care is great! it’s been really good for my complexi-”

“No!” interrupted Alice. “Don’t you distract me with the make-up spiel. Where was I?” her friend paused to stare vacantly beside her. The bloke in her field of vision saw her turn that way and pantomimed a “me?” Lily was getting ready to bring out the popcorn - Alice hated being hit on - but was spared the performance when Alice snapped back to attention.

“That’s right! Your tells! Innisfree can’t hide how much you blush around him. AND I’ve seen you do the little double tuck of your hair behind your ears when he is talking to you. It exposes you, Lily. I see through you.”

Through her periphery, Lily watched the guy oscillate between looking at the menu and looking at Alice. He was wearing a pink shirt with an orange tie. It was awful - she would know, she didn’t wear pink - but she kind of respected the courage that must’ve been born by wearing that colour combination. 

But Alice was waiting for an answer. 

Lily protested, “We’re colleagues! We sit next to each other!” 

“An office romance!” Alice declared with satisfaction on top of Lily’s exclamations. “We need one of those.”

“Alice.” Lily’s voice turned into a plea. “I want to focus on work.”

A look was levelled in her direction. Too late she remembered that Alice knew of her secret binge reading romance habit. She pivoted.

“I barely know the guy. And office romances can end up so awkward.” 

“Speaking of awkward-” a new voice in a steady baritone interrupted them. “Would you ladies happen to have any recommendations for the menu?” He said ladies, but his eyes were only on her friend. The guy wasn’t bad looking, truly. An open, honest face. Broad shoulders. Eager smile. She immediately felt sorry for him. 

With exaggerated slowness, Alice looked down at her outfit and back up at him. “Does it look like we work at McDonalds?” 

The guy blinked. “Ah, I should’ve planned my delivery better.”

“You shouldn’t have planned a delivery at all! We have the right to eat lunch in the food court and not be accosted by guys trying to chat us up!” 

Uh oh. Alice was on a roll. This was a topic very sensitive to her.

Alice continued in a biting tone. “We were having a conversation.”

“We’re not having a conversation about James Potter.” Lily grimaced. 

“Potter? James Potter? Oi, I know the bloke!” 

Both heads swivelled towards him and he looked delighted by the attention.

“You do?” Lily’s face was aghast but Alice’s was skeptical. 

“Sure do. James Fleamont Potter. Works at Gryffindor Lawyers? We play rugby together.” 

A grin brightened Lily’s face. Fleamont? FLEAMONT?! This piece of information would do nicely. 

“I’m Frank Longbottom, how do you do?” 

Well, James’s middle name was in good company it seemed. 

Alice waved her hand away at the guy. 

“Sorry,” Lily mouthed at him. He shook his head and made to leave. Alice took his absence without a hitch in her stride, returning to the topic Lily had been trying to avoid.

“Let me get this clear. You like him.” Lily made a noise to protest but Alice waved her protestations away and continued. “At least a little bit. But you’re not open to dating right now because you work together?” 

“I categorically deny all of the claims you have against me." And to be extra safe, she added further caveats. “And we JUST started working together and this trainee program goes for two years so we’ll be together for two years at least - I mean, we’ll be working together. Like closely together and -” Lily was interrupted by Alice’s laughing at her. “And the fall out would be terrible if we ever broke up and it’s unprofessional to mix personal with business!” She narrowed her eyes at her shorter friend. 

Alice wiped the mirth from her face. “You’re so pessimistic, Lily. How do you know it’ll end awfully?”

Sombrely Lily responded, “Relationships only end in two ways. Break-ups or marriage.” 

“Yikes girl, leave the forced marriages to your romance novels. Nobody said anything about marriage.” 

“But it’s true. And I’ll have you know pessimism is a very good trait for a lawyer. I’m not tricked by surprise clauses. Or unreliable clients.” 

“You’re not wrong.” Alice conceded. “But you know, you gotta lighten up a little. Even lawyers are people. And pessimism is not good for the soul. Or romance.” She winked. 

But Lily shook her head, as determined as ever. “I’m fine.” Then continued, in an indoor version of her stern voice. “This is my stance, and that’s final.” 

* * *

“Bad luck, Prongs.” 

Sirius and James were on the tube on the way home to their shared apartment after a long week of work. Sirius had looked up from his phone to pass onto James his condolences.

“For what?” James replied, unperturbed. When James Potter was born he was blessed with an unbounded sense of optimism. It was a nice feature to possess. Sometimes it led to the overestimation of his own abilities (a straight-faced Euphemia Potter coming to mind as she suffered James’s enthusiasm when he decided at the tender age of fifteen to delve into the professional world of cooking and accidentally substituted sugar for salt). But normally, it worked out for him. 

Sirius pulled out his phone to the marauder group chat. 

When James was born, he was also cursed with what he saw as his one and only flaw: short-sightedness (a hereditary weakness from both of his parents… which probably made it likely for his progeny too). So, he squinted at Sirius’ phone on the swaying train as it left Holborn, eventually reaching up a hand to hold a loop suspended from the ceiling to keep balance as he reached with his other hand to peer at Sirius’ phone.

 **Wormtail:** Alice just told me that Lily’s not interested in office dating!

 **Moony:** Bad luck, Prongs

 **Padfoot:** HAHAHAHA

He thrust Sirius his phone back to him and then immediately pulled out his own. He started that merry dance of swaying on the balls of his feet as the train jolted so he could use both hands to give this conversation the attention it deserved. 

**Prongs:** WHAT

WHEN

WHAT DID SHE SAY EXACTLY

…

Are you sure?

 **Wormtail:** Word for word from Alice: “Lily’s not interested in office dating” 

**Prongs:** You guys are lawyers, there’s room for interpretation that I should ask her out, yeah?

 **Padfoot:** YES! 

Sirius backed up his enthusiasm by whacking James on the back. 

James kept his balance. All that rugby training meant he had calves of steel. And the balance of a ninja. Or so he told himself as the train lurched on. 

**Moony:** No.

Moony would be a buzzkill. 

**Wormtail:** Oh, um. I don’t think so?

Ugh no, not Wormtail too! 

But the trait he was born with bounced right back up. And he composed his argument as the tourists around him pushed past to exit at Covent Garden. 

**James, replying to Padfoot:** Well, that’s 2 vs 2. Maybe 2 to 1 if we count Wormtail’s hesitation as an inconclusive vote. I myself see a lot of grey areas in Lily’s statement. For example we could be friends outside of the office. We could go on dates outside of the office. We could date in secret. It’s clearly on the balance of probabilities that I should ask Lily out.

 **Moony:** (sigh)

 **James:** (grins) 

* * *

Lily entered the office bright and early on Monday morning to be greeted in a shower of confetti, courtesy of two of her new colleagues.

One of them was grinning, empty confetti bags marking him as an accomplice. Wait, was that a phone? Was he recording? And yet not a wavy black hair out of place. That was Sirius Black. Best friend of James Potter. They were terrible together. It was why Sirius’s desk was at the other end of the office. 

The other culprit was the devil himself, who took the opportunity to wink at her. 

From her rainbow coloured streamer shower, five pieces of paper hung suspended by the ceiling in an abuse of office sticky tape. Each piece of paper had one word which together asked:

GO OUT WITH ME LILY

Her eyes darted to Minerva’s office which thankfully was shut, the light not lit. Minerva hadn’t seen it. She tried to shake the confetti out of her hair and James bounded up to her in his long limbs, not un-reminiscent of that Disney movie with the baby deer... 

“What do ya say?”

“No, thank you.” 

Short answers were good answers. No room for misinterpretation, miscommunication or error. No room for second guessing. She then hurriedly reached up to take the banner down, lest anyone (like a senior partner famous for wearing tartan and a glare that looked like she just bit into a lemon for example) came by and saw it. Tearing down the makeshift banner, she scrunched each piece of paper up and then after realising she probably should’ve torn them so they’d fit into recycling, decided she may as well go for a rejection as dramatic as the proposal - being environmentally friendly and conscious of her carbon footprint could be ignored just this ONCE - and threw each scrunched up ball into the nearest rubbish bin. 

(Being environmentally friendly and conscious of her carbon footprint could not be ignored. Later that day Lily’s conscience made her fish out the paper from amongst tissues and lolly wrappers to put in the recycling.) 

She waited for James’s grin to dim, or for his head to deflate - even just a little. 

But she was waiting in vain. 

“Maybe next time,” was all he said, stupid hazel green eyes twinkling behind those rectangular glasses. He patted her on the shoulder as he walked by her and a whiff of his cologne rushed by. She really should be desensitised to the stuff because she sat next to him. Morning James was a dangerous thing. All fresh and showered and energetic. Checking a blank monitor for any telltale signs of blushing beneath her Innisfree foundation - which was impeccably done this morning if she could say so herself - she nodded.

Yes. Dating someone at work would be absolutely terrible. She had made the right call. 

* * *

“It was definitely the confetti. She complained about it all day,” said James seriously to Remus as they briskly walked to chambers to meet with a barrister. They were working on vaginal mesh installations gone wrong, a case of medical negligence of such terrible proportions that James not only saw himself getting justice for his clients, but was becoming optimistic about meeting his billables for the quarter. 

Lockhart was all about meeting the budget. Actually, it was the only thing the dolt somehow managed to do right. And why his promotion to Senior Associate had been announced to everyone’s chagrin the day before. 

Remus pressed his lips together. He’d talked to Lily, you see. He knew it wasn’t just the confetti but what the confetti represented: immaturity, showoffiness, and a brand of ridiculousness that was very James Potter. Maybe she could learn to love that last part, but he knew James wasn’t going to succeed when his first step forward was always going to be two steps back in her books. Immaturity and showoffiness. Remus had been on the receiving end of many rants regarding those two special traits in his mate.

So as they strolled through the rain in downtown London towards chambers Remus felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. An immovable object and an unstoppable force. 

What if he could get the unstoppable force to change its tone a little? Would that be wishful thinking?

“It wasn’t the confetti.” Remus began with a sigh. It was definitely wishful thinking. Too bad he was a wishful thinker. “You’ve gotta change your approach, Prongs. Lily would rather have a heart to heart than a public display of embarrassment.” 

“What do you know about what Lily wants?” James was instantly suspicious.

“Most women would prefer a heartfelt invitation to go out. _And_ she told me so.” Remus shrugged, the umbrella in his hand bobbing with him.

James assessed his friend and then instantly felt repentant. Remus wouldn’t hit on someone he had liked first. But if Remus really liked her, wouldn’t it also be something he had to do as a friend to give way? Especially if she liked Remus? And not him? 

“DO YOU LIKE LILY EVANS?” It burst out of James Potter’s mouth in a rush. The drizzling rain did little to obscure his volume.

Remus tilted his umbrella up to look at James. “Prongs, James. No. No, no no. What, are we thirteen? Calm down, I’m not about to steal your crush.”  
  
James tried to look sufficiently calm. They resumed walking and Remus resumed talking.

“You’re my mate, I don’t want to watch your heart being squashed because you keep trying to offer it to her in a way that she doesn’t understand the sincerity of it.” 

“I should be more sincere?”

“That’s my advice.”

James looked ready to follow it like a religion so Remus threw in some disclaimers.

“It might not work! Don’t rely on it. But it won’t hurt. Being sincere will probably help.” He then added as an afterthought, “And maybe not asking her in front of other people. That puts pressure on her, you know.”

With that, they stepped through the revolving door to the chambers of Albus Dumbledore, QC. Albus Dumbledoor was a bit kooky but he was the best barrister in the city, maybe even the country (maybe even the world: thought James privately). Part of his kookiness was having his chambers accessible only by stairs. 

So they began the climb. 

Of course, Dumbledore met with clients in their offices when accessibility was an issue, but when that wasn’t necessary he liked being in the awnings of the “spiral staircase” of London’s metropolis. He said they kept him young. 

The stairs to his chambers did indeed spiral. 

And when James and Remus explained the latest development of their cases to Albus Dumbledore, he did indeed work his magic and arrive at a solution to the issue they had about joining their clients together in a class action. 

Work was tough sometimes, but with wizards like Albus Dumbledore on their side, the good side, James felt satisfaction knowing it would all work out okay.

* * *

“Hey Lilikins,” he announced his presence while trying out a new nickname as well as falling in step behind her as she walked towards the copy room. Three goals achieved in one with two words and one awesome delivery. James Potter was the King of Efficiency. And she was wearing a white dress today that tapered at her waist and knees. Her hair looked especially bright against all the white. She could be an angel. 

But her angelic face contorted in disgust at the nickname. “Let’s not, Potter.”

“Oh, so I’m Potter today?”

“You’re Potter everyday as far as I’m concerned.” 

“I wasn’t Potter at our date the other week.”

At that, Lily’s gorgeous eyes widened. 

He chuckled to himself. 

“It wasn’t a date.” 

“Okay, fine.” He conceded.

He watched her deflate in relief and mouth something that looked a lot like “Peter.” 

“But it could be! I think you’re mighty fit, Lily - no kins.” He grinned at her. “Wanna go out with me tonight?” There. A delivery in private that “Be Sincere” Remus could be proud of.

But as they entered the copy room, the faint scent of coconut from her hair teasing him with the promise of picnic dates in the summertime, she avoided meeting his eyes. 

“Wasn’t I clear enough earlier?”

He started to feel a sense of falling. 

“I thought maybe you wanted to be asked more sincerely. In privacy.”

“Umm well that’s- err-” Lily began, her usual eloquence abandoning her as she struggled to find words. She tried again. “You’re great. Ish. Sort of.” She paused to tuck strands of her hair behind her ears. “But my stance is -”

“Ahem.” A cough interrupted them. A stern little thing that somehow packed a judgemental punch. A cough nightmares were made of. It was Minnie. 

Lily sprung away from James and suddenly he missed the scent of coconut, and was that a new perfume? It smelt incredible. Like a serious threat to his working faculties. He might have to invest in a desk fan and chat with Remus, maybe, about the aerodynamics of propelling the perfume from her person into his face everyday. 

“Hey Minnie.” He tried his dimpled school boy smile. It never failed him. 

“Lily, would you come into my office when you’re done here?”

“Yes, m’am!” 

Minnie raised an eyebrow at Lily, who was starting to blush. 

“I mean, yes, Minerva.” 

Minnie inclined her severe head slightly and walked off.

Seeing an opportunity for teasing and not taking it was basically not in James’s vocabulary. 

“Uh oh, Little Miss Goody Two Shoes is in Trouble,” James declared in a singsong voice as soon as Minerva’s grey tartan matching pant suit left the room. 

Lily bit her lip. 

It dawned on him that she could actually be worried.

Sighing, she turned to punch her printer code into the printer and wait for her documents.

“Hey,” he nudged her playfully. “It’s fine. When she reprimands she does so with love. Don’t know how she nudges it out of her stern heart but she does.” 

“Yeah, okay.” Her mouth lifted in a half-smile. “Thanks Potterkins.” 

He screwed up his nose in disgust. “I see why you don’t like it.”

Lily only laughed. But as the steady whoosh of her printing documents came to a halt, she picked up her documents from the tray and added just to be as clear as possible: “By the way, Potter. I’m flattered. Truly. But the answer is still no.”

She tried not to look behind her as she left the printer room. She couldn’t handle the idea of seeing his reaction. Would he be hurt? Would he ignore it? How did she want him to take it? It was honestly better not to know. One couldn’t be tempted by what one didn’t know. She almost tripped over a garbage can in her haste to leave behind the boy with the glasses in the printing room, a boy which, had she decided to turn around, was furiously wiping something out of his eyes underneath his glasses. 

* * *

Though she wasn’t looking at him, she couldn’t help but keep thinking about him as she made her way to Minerva’s office. James was wildly socially perceptive for someone who indulged in socially unacceptable behaviour in the workplace everyday. Maybe he knew the rules only so he could break them. She didn’t mean to look so upset when Minerva asked her to come to her office. She tucked both sides of her hair behind her ears - dang it Alice was right, it really was a nervous tell - and made her way to the glass door.

Was she not doing okay?

Was her work subpar?

Did she not have enough clients?

Did Minerva hear about the judgment that just came in, not in her favour? She planned to appeal that. The barrister agreed that there were decent grounds for an appeal. 

Her thoughts were spiralling and she knew it. So she took a surreptitious big breath at the door before knocking.

“Come in,” Minerva called. 

Lily obliged and took a seat opposite her.

“I just wanted to check in with you, Lily.” 

_Oh_. Oh no. She WAS underperforming. She was RIGHT to be worried!

“How are your interpersonal relationships with your colleagues going?”

OH GOD. THIS WAS EVEN WORSE SOMEHOW. HAD MINERVA HEARD JAMES ASK HER OUT IN THE COPY ROOM?

“FINE!” She managed and when Minerva viscerally flinched at her volume, she tried not to talk in capitals. “They’re absolutely fine.” She repeated, probably more to convince herself. 

“You know you can talk to me if anyone is bothering you. I can be very discreet.”

“Of course,” Lily agreed wholeheartedly. “No one is bothering me. I’m happy as a clam.” She immediately cringed at her word choice (she was indeed clamming up) but decided to smile to sell it better.

“Okay,” said Minerva who seemed to debate internally and then go on to add, “You know, dating within the office is--” 

Lily had no excuses for what she did next. She wasn’t proud. But in her defence, she was feeling very stressed at the time. She immediately sprung up, interrupting Minerva’s sentence. “Is that the time? I’m so sorry - I’m late to another conference!” 

“Okay,” repeated Minerva. “Please feel free to stop by for a chat anytime.” 

Nodding hastily in response, Lily rushed out of the door, leaving behind a Minerva McGonnagal who was rubbing at her temple. If Lily could’ve read Minerva’s mind, she would have been floored by her Senior Partner’s train of thought. As she sighed and sipped at tea which had gotten cold (again), Minerva was reflecting on how it would’ve been so much easier to handle the situation if Lily Evans did not reciprocate Mr Potter Junior’s affections. So much easier. She may have been paid a handsome salary, but not even that was enough to deal with the woes of young love. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to all those who commented because each time you commented, it set off a writing spree LOL and also to the profession of law which I thought I had forsaken but maybe actually apparently not. 
> 
> Thanks for your patience readers. I will not give up on this fic. Feel free to prompt me into updating and regale me with your own stories of office work back in the days when we went into offices.


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